Search

The experience of critical care is stressful for both patients and their families. This is especially true when patients are not able to make their own care decisions. This article details the creation of a Family Experience Survey in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) to capture and improve overall experience. Kolcaba's "Enhanced Comfort Theory" provided the theoretical basis for question formation, specifically in regards to the four aspects of comfort: "physical," "psycho-spiritual," "sociocultural" and "environmental." Survey results were analyzed in real-time to identify and implement interventions needed for issues raised. Overall, there was a high level of satisfaction reported especially with quality of care provided to patients, communication and availability of nurses and doctors, explanations from staff, inclusion in decision making, the needs of patients being met, quality of care provided to patients and cleanliness of the unit. It was noted that 'N/A' was indicated for cultural needs and spiritual needs, a chaplain now rounds on all patients daily to ensure these services are more consistently offered. In addition, protocols for doctor communication with families, palliative care consults, daily bleach cleaning of high touch areas in patient rooms and nurse-led progressive mobility have been implemented. Enhanced comfort theory enabled the opportunity to identify and provide a more 'broad' approach to care for patients and families., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a valuable procedure for assessing left ventricular (LV) function, but it has not been widely applied in critical care because of the limited number of intensivists who are trained in echocardiography. This prospective study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of training intensivists to perform a goal-directed, limited-scope TEE to assess LV function in critically ill patients using a pediatric monoplane TEE probe. A secondary goal was to compare the usefulness of the TEE data with that of data obtained by a simultaneous pulmonary artery catheter (PAC)., Design: Prospective, blinded., Setting: University teaching hospital., Participants: One hundred consecutive, intubated, intensive care unit patients., Interventions: Five surgical intensivists with no previous background in echocardiography were trained under the supervision of two cardiologists to perform limited-scope TEE using a monoplane pediatric probe. One intensivist (A) reviewed the PAC data and recorded a diagnostic impression and therapeutic plan. A second intensivist (B), blinded to the PAC data, then performed TEE to determine cardiac volume, LV wall thickness, and LV global and regional wall motion. Intensivists A and B reviewed the data from both PAC and TEE, and intensivist A then formulated a new diagnosis and therapeutic plan., Measurements and Main Results: Intensivists performed 48 TEE examinations under direct supervision of a cardiologist, and 52 without supervision, but reviewed poststudy. The average duration of TEE was 12 +/- 7 minutes. The intensivists' interpretations of TEE data were deemed correct in 93% of cases for LV wall thickness, 87% for intracardiac volume status, 81% for regional LV wall motion abnormalities, and 77% for global LV function. When the TEE and PAC technologies were compared, it was found that the TEE data disagreed with the PAC evaluation of intracardiac volume in 55% of cases and with the PAC assessment of myocardial function in 39% of cases. The post-PAC therapeutic recommendations were different from the post-TEE therapeutic recommendations in 58% of patients., Conclusions: Training intensivists in limited-scope, goal-directed TEE, using a pediatric monoplane probe to evaluate LV function, can be done rapidly and safely, and yield data pertinent to management of critically ill patients even in the early stages of skill acquisition.